Another example of the absurdity of the American society
mike and I wandered into a car dealership this evening with the intention of buying a very specific truck. The car manufacturer is having a particularly good sale at the moment, and I have a credit card the generates incentives that lower the cost of the vehicle even further. As both of us had use of a truck, and neither of our spouses objected, we pulled the trigger and decided to buy.
So, we headed in, found the truck (not really, it's in transit, and they have no idea where it is, it's "somewhere"), and said we'd purchase.
We sat down and were immediately asked a ton of credit application questions: drivers license, social security number, employer information. The salesman initially asked me for the information, and I completely balked. We're paying cash, people, caaaaash.
Mike, being the hero he is, stepped up and put the vehicle in his name, filling out the credit application.
After a few moments, he started balking, too. Why do you need my social security number to buy a car IN CASH.
The only thing you should need to buy a car is the cash and a drivers license. This Patriot Act thing is a fucking piece of crap.
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And...
It's good to now know that I'm not on the Dept. of Homeland Security's Patriot Act Watch List. Yes, people, they check the "List" before you can buy a new car. (On the flip side, at least I know I won't be held up at the airport next week.)
The part that gets me is that we were basically paying in cash for this. Yes, it was above $10k, but not much. And we're not talking a panel truck or van without windows, aka Oklahoma City.